Fuel pump strike called off

It was a telephone call from Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, two hours before the proposed 24-hour strike by 400 fuel stations was to begin from Thursday midnight, which eventually made it a non-starter.

It was a telephone call from Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, two hours before the proposed 24-hour strike by 400 fuel stations was to begin from Thursday midnight, which eventually made it a non-starter.

The strike’s call, given by the Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA), was to protest the state government’s decision to raise the Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel to 20 per cent---a hike of 7.5 per cent since 2008---that made it costlier by Rs 4 per litre.

“Around 10 pm, our general secretary received a call from Mrs. Sheila Dikshit who assured she had asked Dr. AK Walia (finance minister) and the VAT Commissioner to get the figures on the impact of the hike in the VAT on the sale of diesel in Delhi, after which we called off the strike,” said DPDA’s president Atul Peshawaria.

“The CM asked for a fortnight’s time to examine the issue and so we have decided to suspend our agitation for a month,” said Peshawaria.